Thursday, September 5, 2013

Cambodia: Government Obstructs Khmer Rouge Court

Tribunal Staff Unpaid
Since May; End Hun Sen Delaying Tactics(New York, September
5, 2013) – The Cambodian government’s refusal to pay local staff at the Khmer
Rouge tribunal is the latest attempt to undermine efforts to bring former Khmer
Rouge leaders to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

On September 2, 2013, more than half of the Cambodians working on the
government payroll at the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), set up to try members of the Khmer
Rouge, went on strike to protest the government’s failure to pay their salaries
since May. The strike includes interpreters, translators, and various judicial
and technical staff. The failure to pay staff threatens efforts to finish the
first segment of the trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu
Samphan. Closing statements in the case are scheduled for October and a verdict
is expected in the first half of 2014.

“Prime Minister Hun Sen has spent years obstructing the trials of former
Khmer Rouge leaders, but donors to the court have played along and continued to
subsidize a seriously compromised court,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights
Watch. “Donors should finally call his bluff and withhold future contributions
until the Cambodian government pays its agreed share of the costs of holding
the Khmer Rouge accountable.”

Under the agreement with the United Nations establishing the ECCC, the UN
pays the salaries of UN-appointed staff, while the Cambodian government pays
the salaries of government-appointed staff. The government has regularly
demanded contributions from donors to pay the salaries of government-appointed
staff. The resulting withholding of salaries by the government has periodically
hobbled the court’s work.

International donors, led by Japan, have been the sole bankrollers of the
UN side of the ECCC. Some have also previously provided financial assistance to
pay some of the government’s agreed share, though donors have said they would
no longer do so.

The ECCC was set up in 2006 following an agreement with the United Nations
according to which it operates within the Cambodian judiciary but with UN
assistance. The tribunal has the mandate to try “senior leaders” and others
“most responsible” for Khmer Rouge crimes from 1975-1979. However, stalling
tactics and obstruction by Hun Sen and the Cambodian government mean that thus
far it has only convicted one person: Kaing Gech Eav, alias Duch, the chief of
the notorious Tuol Sleng prison and torture center. Duch confessed to his
crimes in case 001 and was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.

Two of the four “senior leaders” charged by the ECCC have either died or
been declared too ill to stand trial. The two “senior leaders” still on trial,
Nuon Chea, 87, and Khieu Samphan, 82, are charged with genocide, crimes against
humanity, and war crimes in case 002. Concern that they might also die before a
verdict led to a Trial Chamber decision to have a first trial segment trying
them only in connection with the Khmer Rouge relocation in 1975 of urban
Cambodians and others to rural areas previously under Khmer Rouge control. A
trial for other crimes for which they are indicted, including genocide, may
never happen.

Attempts by UN prosecutors and judges to investigate five additional Khmer
Rouge suspects – divided into cases 003 and 004 – have been publicly and
repeatedly opposed by Hun Sen. One died, and the health of several others is
precarious. A UN-nominated investigating judge is currently investigating cases
003 and 004, attempting to ascertain whether some or all of the four suspects
should be indicted for trial. But without government cooperation, trials will
be impossible.

While Hun Sen has blocked the tribunal from holding speedy trials and
limited the number of accused, many Cambodian staff have worked hard to bring
the alleged perpetrators of some of the world’s worst international crimes to
justice. However, many staffers are bitter at what they have described to Human
Rights Watch as government interference and corruption at the court, which has
contributed to the readiness of many to stop work in the face of government
nonpayment of their salaries. One told Human Rights Watch: “Why should we work
for free if the government doesn’t really care about who committed most of the
crimes or our standard of living?”

“Prime Minister Hun Sen has never been committed to prosecuting more than a
few Khmer Rouge leaders, apparently to protect members of his party and
government who were also in the Khmer Rouge,” Adams said. “The government has
demonstrated it has plenty of cash to pay a bloated army and buy elections,
making its refusal to put money into the Khmer Rouge tribunal a symbol of its
utter contempt for justice in Cambodia. Donors and the UN should insist that
the Cambodian government stop pretending to be too poor to provide
accountability to the millions of victims of the Khmer Rouge.”